Search This Blog

One Stop shop for Daily Digest - News, Views and analysis of the political developments of the Horn of Africa. Now you can follow by email alerts situated at the bottom. Please feel free to forward any item of interest - it is your blog too (Make it your Home Page)

The suspects include nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, four Syrians, five Iranians, two Germans and one each from Iraq, Serbia and the US, he said.

'Clear signals'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has condemned the violence, saying Germany should examine whether enough was being done to ensure foreigners convicted of crimes in the country are deported.

She said "clear signals" had to be sent to those not prepared to abide by German law.

In a separate case, police have arrested four Syrians, aged between 14 and 21, over the suspected gang rape of two teenage girls in the southern German town of Weil am Rhein on New Year's Eve, according to German media.

The attack is not believed to be connected to the events in Cologne, the police statement said.

Image copyrightAPImage captionPolice say women were forced to "run the gauntlet" through gangs of drunk and aggressive men

The identification of the attackers in Cologne as North African or Arab in appearance has caused alarm in Germany because of the influx of more than a million migrants and refugees in the past year.

Officials have warned that anti-immigrant groups have been trying to use the attacks to stir up hatred.

Similar attacks to those seen in Cologne were also reported in Hamburg and in Stuttgart.

Police in several other European countries have also received complaints:

In Finland, police said they received reports of "widespread sexual harassment" in Helsinki on New Year's Eve, which they described as "a completely new phenomenon"

Police in the Swedish city of Kalmar have arrested two men over complaints by at least 15 women of sexual molestation